La Victoire... et ensuite ?

14 July 1945

Défilé du 14 juillet 1945 à Paris. Vue aérienne de la place de la Bastille. ©ecpa>d

From the Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Nation and taking in Place de la Bastille where the official stand was located, the crowd gathered on the parade route through Paris adorned with tricolours. After an interruption lasting six years the French national holiday was again celebrated with Europe finally at peace and the country liberated.

From the Munich conference until the Second World War

29 septembre 1938. Signature des accords de Munich - Neville Chamberlain, Premier ministre de Grande-Bretagne; Edouard Daladier, président du Conseil français, le chancelier Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini et le comte Ciano, ministre des affaires étrangères

Année 1917 : le tournant

L'année 1944

The principal axes of the Allied advance between June and September 1944

The French Foreign Legion

Flag of the Foreign Legion with grenade and seven rising flames. Source: Personal collection

The French Foreign Legion - History

The causes of the Great War

The President of the Republic in Russia. The tsar and the President of the French Republic inspect marine guards in Peterhof

La Paix

La Première Guerre mondiale (1914-1918)

11 November: a day of remembrance

Des canons allemands sont traînés, le 11 novembre 1918, sur la place de l'Opéra et les boulevards, au milieu des farandoles.

Why is 11 November still today one of the major dates in the French commemorative calendar?

If 11 November has become a day of remembrance, it is also the recollection of a single day, the Armistice of 1918 that finally brought the battles of the First World War (1914-1918) to an end.

The Armistice procession, 11 November 1918. Source: SHD collection